


The Recitation 



PATRICK 




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CflPyRIGKT DEPOSIT. 



The Recitation 



BY 

J. N. PATRICK, A. M. 

Author of "Elements of Pedagogics," Pedagogical 
Pebbles," and "Higher English." 



Learning zvithouf thought is labor lost. — Confucius. 



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BKCIvXOLD & CO. 

St. Louis, Mo, 



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Copyright, 1897, 

BY 

J. N. PATRICK. 



To Teachers. — "The Recitation" has been given 
pamphlet form at the request of many teachers who 
have heard it in teachers' institutes. No effort has 
been made to describe just "How to Conduct a 
Recitation" by arranging in a formal order the 
steps of a recitation. In the hands of an in- 
competent or machine teacher, specific directions 
would soon degenerate into a dry, mechanical 
routine. No one can tell another just how he 
should do anything. However, an effort has been 
made to call the attention of young teachers to 
some of the characteristics of a good recitation. 

J. N. P. 
St. lyouis, Mo., January, 1897. 



III. 



It is an old saying that as the teacher so the school. 
The best meaning for this is, that the pupil's mind, in the 
act of learning, becomes like the teacher's mind; it takes 
on the tone and coloring of the teacher's thought. The 
teacher builds his own thought structure into the mind of 
the pupil; begets him with his own purity, strength, and 
sweep of emotional life; breathes into him the breath of his 
owm ethical nature. The teacher may resolve to train to 
accurate, thorough and methodical habits of thought; but 
unless these are habits of his own rnind his efforts will be 
unavailing. The stream cannot rise higher than its source. 
If the teacher thinks loosely and slovenly he cannot hope 
to realize anything better in the pupil so far as the teaching 
goes. The narrow pedant and dogmatist can never secure 
scholarly habits and liberal culture. The teacher who has 
not a rich and full range of emotional life can expect 
nothing but a withered soul born of his teaching. The man 
who has not strength and purity of character cannot 
strengthen and purify character. The teacher builds his 
life into that of his pupil; and it is absolutely essential that 
his life be all that he expects the pupil to become. The 
quality of a teacher's life is a part of his professional equip- 
ment. — ARNOI.D Tompkins. 



IV. 



THE RECITATION. 

''Whether we regard the prime XDurpose of the 
school as mental or moral instruction and dis- 
cipline, the formation of character or the manual 
skill that shall aid in securing a comfortable live- 
lihood, the recitation is that about which center all 
the activities of school-life, giving it success or 
stamping it with failure." — Howland. 

Should Arouse Self = Activity. — A teacher's 
value depends upon his ability to stimulate mental 
activity in his pupils. Teaching a pupil is helping 
him to help himself. Correct teaching carefully 
notes a pupil's ability and supplies him with all he 
can do. It converts learning into knowledge. It 
recognizes the fact that only what is understood is 
useful — that the pupil should be trained in all that 
truly tends to educate him. 

Until a teacher sees clearly the difference be- 
tween training a pupil to think for himself and 
cramming his memory with text-book facts, he is 
a failure ; until a teacher sees clearly that the 
power to think is more inspiring and lasting than 
tlie mere ability to quote the thoughts of others, he 
is a failure. Mind is more than a storehouse, more 

V. 



6 THE RECITATION. 

than memory. Teaching is more than a memory 
exhibition of text-book facts, rules and definitions. 
Pupils go to school for experience. Memory reci- 
tation of the thoughts of others is not real expe- 
rience ; it is too formal. Mere formalism is soul- 
less. The work of a teacher is real work. It de- 
mands the earnestness of an idealist. 

In every recitation, training for power should be 
the principal aim of a teacher. Text-book facts 
and methods are only means to that one paramount 
end. Training in correct methods of study and 
correct habits is a pupil's greatest need. Training 
inspires, develops, habituates; cramming deadens, 
arrests, destroys. The mind must grow or be- 
come atrophied. The mind needs mental food as 
much as the body needs physical food. Method 
should stimulate mental activity and thus create an 
appetite for mental nourishment. As physical ex- 
ercise creates phj^sical hunger, so mental exercise 
creates mental hunger. Strength — physical, intel- 
lectual and moral — depends upon exercise. 

In the recitation, the real teacher finds oppor- 
tunity to train his pupils in habits of self-reliance. 
A tactful teacher uses the recitation to train all 
the mental faculties of a pupil ; the indifferent 
school-keeper uses the recitation to cram his 
memory. Teaching does not mean lecturing 



THE BECITATION. 7 

or pouring facts into the minds of pupils. It 
means self-activity on the part of pupils or it 
means little or nothing. Children should be trained 
to think, to investigate, to question, to reason. 
The methods of a teacher should compel pupils to 
think for themselves. 

Pedagogicall}^ wise is a teacher who sees even a 
glimpse of the great truth that telling is not teach- 
ing. Telling implies mental activity only on the 
part of the teacher. The pupils may be merely 
passive listeners. Teaching implies mental activ- 
ity on the part of pupils as well as teacher. Tell- 
ing merely fills a pupil with facts ; teaching leads 
him to discover his own facts. Teaching is more 
than imparting information ; it is more than reci- 
tation hearing. A teacher who is not sure that 
his method of teaching is psychologically sound 
will soon fall into a mechanical routine. A rec- 
itation should always awaken interest, for only 
through interest is it possible to awaken the mind. 

"To teach mankind some truth 
So dearly purchased — only then I found 
Such teaching was an art requiring cares 
And qualities peculiar to itself ; 
That to possess was one thing — to display 
Another." 

Illustration the Test. — The recitation of the 
words of a text-book without ample illustration by 



8 THE HE CITATION'. 

the pupil is a schoolroom farce. The mere ability 
to recite text-book matter is not a test of a pupil's 
knowledge of a subject. Without the ability to 
illustrate, a pupil learns much he will never know; 
that is, he merely recites the words of another. 
Teachers should insist upon illustrations of defini- 
tions and rules. 

Exact teaching cultivates clear thinking and 
exact expression on the part of pupils. Indifferent 
teaching encourages careless thinking and slovenly 
expression. Exact teaching trains a pupil to be 
clean and definite in his statements; indifferent 
teaching trains him to be dirty and indefinite in 
his statements. Vague, wordy instruction leaves 
vague and indefinite impressions. Muddy and 
wordy illustrations by a teacher cannot convey to 
a pupil clear ideas. Clean, clear expression on the 
part of a pupil is the result of persistent, methodical 
training by the teacher. Incorrect habits of 
expression cannot be dislodged by spasmodic 
efforts on the part of teachers. A teacher should 
be uniformly purposeful and exacting. 

Sound methods put the burden of the work upon 
pupils. A successful teacher does not recite les- 
sons for pupils nor feed them with suggestive 
questions. He talks but little. Pupils go to 
school not to learn to lean upon teachers and 



THE RECITATION. 9 

books, but to be trained in habits of self-reliance. 
They go to school not to hear teachers tell things, 
but to tell things themselves. Mind is developed 
only by its own activity. Mere filling is not 
culture; culture is the ability to reason. Think of 
this fact, talking teachers. Divide your talking 
by two or four and thus multiply the value of 3^our 
services by four or eight. Much talking wearies. 
A good text-book is always better than a talking 
teacher. 

A floral and Intellectual Test. — The recitation 
is the best school test of a pupil's moral character. 
It gives a pupil an opportunity to define and 
describe himself. If he is manly and self-reliant, 
he will refuse promptings from his classmates; if he 
is indolent and dependent, he will seek every op- 
portunity to shirk recitation. "It is the recitation, 
with its direct and indirect influence, which makes 
a pupil an independent, courageous student, or a 
hopeless beggar. ' ' A recitation should be made so 
exacting, so direct, so personal that a large major- 
ity of pupils will prepare their lessons. The 
character of the recitation determines the character 
of the pupil's study hours. 

The recitation is the best school-test of a pupil's 
intellectual character. From the manner in which 
a pupil expresses himself, a teacher can judge of 



10 THE RECITATION. 

his power to observe, to reflect, to imagine. 
Thinking is hard work, hence pupils are prone to 
clothe their ideas in ragged or incomplete sentences. 
The most persistent effort on the part of a teacher 
should be made to have a pupil express himself in 
clear, concise sentences. Training in expression 
should constitute a part of every recitation during 
the entire period of a pupil's school-life. Clearness 
of statement is evidence of culture. The mere 
ability to state a fact in careless or slovenly Eng- 
lish does not suggest culture. Pupils should 
recite in their own language; they should not be 
permitted to quote the language of text-books — 
definitions excepted. The parrot-like recitation of 
facts in the language of others is not significant. 
The mind is not satisfied with the recitation of the 
words of others. Teacher, if you are a routine 
recitation hearer, get rid of the habit at once. 
Independent thinking on the part of teachers will 
lead to independent thinking on the part of pupils. 
Mere text-book facts are cheap and may be found 
in dictionaries, gazetteers, and encyclopedias. 

Indirect Help Only. — Many teachers are ever too 
ready to help their pupils over every difficulty — 
over every obstacle which they should master un- 
aided that they may learn to rely upon themselves. 
Teaching which makes school-life easy for a pupil 



THE RECITATION. 11 

is destructive teaching. It robs him of his oppor- 
tunity and gives him a wrong impression, not only 
of school-life, but of life in general. When a 
teacher feels that he should help a pupil, he should 
not do so directly. Suggestion is more helpful 
than telling because it excites the pupil's curiosity 
and sets him to thinking. The pupil should be 
led slowly and cautiously by means of questions to 
help himself out of his difficulty. 

Much help on the part of a teacher weakens the 
will of a pupil and leads him to look for help when 
he should not receive it. The tactful teacher — the 
real teacher — seldom finds it necessary to do any- 
thing for a thinking pupil. An average pupil re- 
joices at the opportunity to test and exhibit his 
powers. Therefore the lessons should be neither 
too easy nor too difficult. If the lesson is too easy 
the pupils will lose interest; if the lesson is too 
difficult, the pupils will become discouraged. A 
pupil's effort should bear fruit in objective truth. 

As he governs best who makes rules unneces- 
sary, so he teaches best who enables his pupils to 
dispense with his aid. The soul rejoices only in 
self-won victories. It feels no special pleasure in 
results obtained through the help of others. Pu- 
pils should be encouraged to realize their aims 
through their own efforts, Teaching which does 



12 THE RECITATION. 

not incline a pupil to think for himself is indif- 
ferent teaching. In many schools, pupils are not 
required to think for themselves. The teachers 
tell and the pupils believe. Traditional routine 
is master.- Real teachers train pupils to rely upon 
themselves; school-keepers train them for beggars. 
Knowledge cannot be imparted b}^ teacher to pupil. 
Education is progressive development — the his- 
tory of a process. 

Knowledge cannot be poured into a pupil's head 
as peas are poured into a pot. Knowledge can no 
more be given a pupil by a teacher than character 
can be given a child by the father. Education is 
a possibility merely; each one's self-activity must 
determine w^hether or not he will acquire it. To 
educate a child is to do more for him than to cram 
him with text-book facts; it is to train him in cor- 
rect habits, moral, intellectual, and physical. 
Knowledge is not a gift, but an acquisition. All 
that a teacher can do is to arouse mental activity 
and lead a pupil to desire knowledge. The pupil 
must supply the desire. The best work a pupil 
does is that which teaches him to love work. 
There is a radical defect in a teacher who would 
lead children to believe that life is full of leisure 
and pleasure. Idleness blinds pupils to the work 
of opportunity. 



THE RECITATION'. 13 

Class Instruction. — In a school of thirty or more 
pupils, but little time should be given to individual 
instruction. Individual instruction lessens the 
value of a recitation, hence it has a tendency to 
encourage inattention during recitation. Time and 
energy are both wasted, if a teacher attempts to 
give much individual instruction. With the ex- 
ception of an occasional hint, instruction should be 
class instruction. In classes, pupils teach each 
other. If several pupils are required to illustrate a 
principle or state a text-book fact in their own 
language, each will get a wider view of the matter 
than when taught alone. 

Class recitation gives each pupil in the class an 
opportunity to measure himself with every other 
pupil in the class. It gives a teacher an oppor- 
tunity to grade his pupils and to draw upon each 
for all. In class instruction a teacher is less liable 
to help than in individual instruction. If help can 
be had for the asking, a pupil will often get it when 
he should not receive it. If all attend, class in- 
struction becomes truly individual instruction with 
the added interest that can come only from contact 
of mind with mind. 

If much time is spent with one pupil, the other 
members of the class will become restless. Call on 
every member of the class as often as possible. Do 



14 THE BECITATION. 

not permit ready and anxious pupils to use all the 
time. Give laggards and dullards a chance. After 
a pupil has made two or three blunders or com- 
plete failures, call on another pupil to do the work 
of the blunderer, but do not forget the blunderer. 

Many teachers lose themselves and their pupils 
in the machinery of school-life. Forms and pro- 
grammes have their uses in school as well as else- 
where, but they are not the essentials. Teaching, 
learning, doing, are mental processes — steps in the 
growth of the soul. The curse of the teaching of 
uneducated, untrained teachers is mechanism. No 
mere memory trainer can educate children. Edu- 
cation is not so much reading, so many encyclopedic 
facts; it is a desire, a preparation, a hunger for 
knowledge. Correct habits of thinking and doing 
are more real than facts and theories. 

A Business Affair. — Pupils should not be per- 
mitted to hesitate w^hen called upon to recite. They 
should not be permitted to get their lessons in the 
class. They should go to a recitation fully prepared 
and should respond to questions readily and cheer- 
fully. Pupils should be trained to recognize recita- 
tion hour as the most important hour of the day. 
Each pupil of a class should be called upon to do 
his part of the class task; each should be required to 
exhibit himself. If a pupil hesitates and blunders. 



THE BECITATION. 15 

Stop him and call another pupil. Give delinquents 
another chance to recite, but do not scold them. 
Put the laggard into a lower class until he feels the 
disgrace his indolence has brought upon him. Be 
patient with a dullard for he may know more than 
he can express. Many dull pupils have grown 
into great thinkers. 

A recitation is strictly a business affair. It should 
have a business as well as an intellectual and moral 
value. It should teach pupils that "Life is real; 
life is earnest. ' ' There is no room in school ex- 
ercises for any form of sentimentalism. Enthusi- 
asm, tact, and impartiality should characterize 
every recitation. Wakefulness on the part of both 
teacher and pupil is a necessity. A teacher whose 
heart beats only occasionally cannot hold the at- 
tention of a class. The living dead cannot stimu- 
late the living to greater effort. Schools should 
train children to think and act quickly. A teacher 
should not excuse a pupil for failure in a recitation 
unless he knows that the pupil has studied faith- 
fully all the time. 

Question Pupils. — Correct methods of instruc- 
tion begin or close a recitation with review ques- 
tions. Reviews deepen impressions and awaken 
associations which aid retention. If pupils are 
confronted with review questions, they will be 



16 THE BE CITATION. 

more thorough in their work. Question only in 
regard to essential facts and principles. Do not 
tire and discourage pupils with questions about 
detail. Detail usually takes care of itself. 

A teacher may know a subject but not know how 
to teach it. Skill in teaching depends more on a 
knowledge of the laws of mental growth than upon 
a knowledge of the subject taught. A teacher of 
limited knowledge, but sound method is to be pre- 
ferred to one w^ith ample knowledge and unsound 
method. The average pupil is so inquisitive, so 
self-helpful, that he needs little more than oppor- 
tunity and the stimulation of a strong personality. 
Method may be a hindrance or a help; the value 
of opportunity depends wholly upon the kind of 
opportunity. 

Correct methods of instruction require pupils to 
return to the teacher whatever he imparted to them. 
This a teacher can compel pupils to do only by 
questioning them. Pupils often recite flippantly the 
words of a text-book without the slightest idea of 
their meaning or application. Teachers should not 
assume that pupils understand what they recite or 
that they can illustrate definitions and rules. 

Instruction should end in application. Knowl- 
edge without the power to apply it has little value 
either for the one who possesses it or for society. 



THE BE CITATION. 17 

Knowledge may be a dead possession. The appli- 
cation of knowledge has to be learned through 
practice. "It is practice that makes the master." 
Every teacher is a drill-master. Drill, drill, drill; 
apply, apply, apply what has been learned. But 
the drill, drill, drill of a routine school-keeper will 
never make learning useful. 

A memory stored with facts without the ability 
to apply them is in a sorry condition. Recitation 
appeals almost exclusively to the memory, and 
does not, cannot develop the power to apply the 
facts learned. A pupil's ability to use his learn- 
ing is the true test of a teacher's professional 
strength. "Truth that has been merely learned," 
says Schopenhauer, "islike an artificial limb, a false 
tooth, a waxen nose; it adheres to us only because 
it has been put on. " It does not enrich the life of 
the learner. Recitation will not fix in the mind of 
a learner forms of expression, meaning of defini- 
tions or application of principles. Use gives mean- 
ing to learning. Doing defines, all else is cheap. 
Man is known, not by his opinions, but by what 
he does. ' ' By their fruits ye shall know them. ' ' 

Questioning pupils upon their lessons during 
recitation is an art — an undiscovered art in too 
many schools. Questioning is not telling. Proper 
questions should lead a pupil to tell — to think. 



18 THE BECITATION. 

Seldom, if ever, repeat a question. By repetition 
you encourage the habit of inattention, increase 
your own work and consume time. Pupils should 
be trained to ask all questions concerning their les- 
sons during recitation. A teacher should not per- 
mit pupils in their seats — non-reciting pupils — 
to annoy him with questions while he is hearing a 
class recite. While hearing a recitation a teacher 
should stand where he can see each member of the 
class. He should stand still. A walking, restless 
teacher distracts the attention of the class, also of 
the other pupils. Restlessness divides the presence 
and the power of a teacher. 

Avoid Routine Methods. — Never have pupils 
recite consecutively, that is, in the order in which 
they sit or stand during recitation. Never do 
anything in a routine way. Routine recitation 
hearing is machine teaching. It is comparatively 
easy work, because it is comparatively worthless 
work. Ideals, enthusiasm, conviction and purpose 
are not bounded by set formulas; the soul of a 
leader cannot be imprisoned within a circle. Keep 
each pupil in the class constantly on the alert by 
tact. The method of a teacher determines the 
habits of his pupils. 

Be always new, yet always the same. If a 
pupil's attention is to be held, he must feel that he 



THE BE CITATION. 19 

is likely, at any time, to be called upon for an ex- 
planation, a correction, or an illustration; and 
every day he should have an opportunity to recite. 
** Sitting silent and unnoticed day after day, he 
soon loses all interest, or becomes listless or restless, 
and ere long ceases to prepare the lessons for 
which he has no use. ' ' 

One Thing at a Time. — Teach one thing at a 
time. The clearest images and deepest impressions 
are made when the mind is concentrated upon a 
single thing. The greater the number of objects 
simultaneously in consciousness, the less distinct 
the impression of each. The durability of a per- 
ception depends upon the quality of the attention 
which developed it. One may perceive so feebly 
that the impression will become confused with 
other feeble impressions and soon pass out of con- 
sciousness. 

Teacher, be definite in your aims; select the 
important fact or principle and emphasize it; see 
that the class follow you and understand you. It 
is clear seeing and deep conviction that give life 
meaning. It is thus clear that dissipation in teach- 
ing means a confusion of impressions and little 
advance in mental power or knowledge. Pupils 
may recite the same lesson several times and not 
perceive a single principle in it. 



20 THE BE CITATION. 

Competency Essential. — "What thou dost not 
know, thou canst not tell. ' ' What a teacher knows 
superficially, he teaches superficially. As no one 
can teach all he knows, one must know a subject 
thoroughly before he can teach it thoroughly. Only 
masters inspire and lead others. Every teacher is 
conscious that he knows his subject, or that he does 
not know it. Incompetency is always timid and 
passive; competency usually fearless and aggressive. 
A teacher should be accurately and abundantly 
qualified to teach every subject assigned him. 
There should be a positive ring in every statement 
he makes. Conscious recognition by a teacher that 
he possesses a teaching knowledge of the subjects 
he teaches, does much to lighten his labor and to 
strengthen his faith in himself. 

The inspiration which begets inspiration in 
others is born of intelligent aims. Pupils must be- 
lieve that their teacher is qualified to instruct 
them. They must believe not only that he is com- 
petent, but that he is honest. Character is the 
primary virtue. Teachers need the courage born 
of purpose. There is no sadder spectacle on earth 
than a school-teacher who has no convictions or 
who is afraid to think aloud. Dummies and cow- 
ards have their uses, but they should never be 
placed in charge of children. 



THE HE CITATION. 21 

Accurate scholarship and manly independence 
leave lasting impressions upon pupils, but igno- 
rance and dependence are obstacles in the way of 
intellectual and moral growth. A teacher should 
know the subject rather than its treatment by a 
special author. Slavery to text-books suggests 
incompetency and creates distrust in the minds of 
pupils. Teachers are more courageous and inspir- 
ing without a text-book in hand than with one. 
'*By how much we know, so much we are." 

Originality Essential, — No one who blindly 
copies the methods of another can ever make an 
inspiring teacher. Back of every success is origi- 
nality, purpose and courage. A machine teacher 
does not carry into his work the primary elements 
of success. A teacher who does not study methods 
as well as text-books must always remain a copy- 
ist. As new and better methods are discovered, 
tested and approved, the office of teacher becomes 
more and more difficult to fill. The demand for 
trained teachers is steadily on the increase. Many 
small cities have established training schools, and 
States are building more Normal schools. 

A teacher who is satisfied with his present at- 
tainments and ideals will soon be placed on the 
retired list. A teacher of to-day must meet the re- 
quirements of to-day. The presence of a breathing 



22 THE BECITATION. 

teacher inspired with the zeal born of culture and 
a love of children is the real need of a large ma- 
jority of our schools. The ability to inspire, com- 
mand, direct and save is a teacher's greatest need. 
The familiar saying, **As is the teacher, so is the 
school," is pure truth. The teacher is the school. 
A weak teacher makes weak pupils ; a talking 
teacher, indolent pupils. 

Activity Contagious. — Sitting, dreaming teach- 
ers cannot see idle pupils. Sitting divides sight- 
seeing by ten and a teacher's influence to govern 
and inspire by twenty. Sitting teachers have put 
millions of school children to sleep. The weaker 
the teacher, the less he feels the responsibility of 
his work. During recitations teachers of all grades 
should make sitting the exception and standing the 
rule. If a teacher is not physically able to work 
he should resign ; if he is not willing to work he 
should be dismissed. Some teachers are so feeble 
in presence, so weak in purpose, so indefinite and 
timid in speech that they have little to offer pupils 
when they stand and offer them all they have. 
Such teachers cannot run the risk of dividing their 
little personality with a chair. A true teacher 
.^ives to his school-work his entire being. 

"We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feeling, not in figures on a dial. 

We should count lime by heart throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best. ' ' 



THE BECITATION. 23 

The ideal teaching-relation between teacher and 
pupil is born of faith in humanity and a spirit of 
sympathetic helpfulness on the part of the teacher. 
The atmosphere and environments of a schoolroom 
should be more cordial and inspiring than the 
atmosphere and environments of a cold storage 
warehouse. Passive, inactive believers cannot 
lead others to feel or to do. Passive, uncertain 
teachers always have passive, uncertain pupils. 
Teacher, if you lack the power of presence, develop 
it; if you lack vigor of speech and action, acquire 
it; if you lack enthusiasm, generate it; if you do 
not love children, quit teaching school. 

"Work and enthusiasm," says Goethe, "are the 
pinions on which great deeds are borne." En- 
thusiasm is a flame which leaps from heart to 
heart. Man is more than cold intellect. A man 
whose head is full of book-facts is usually a poor 
teacher. A real teacher is always larger and wiser 
than a mere bookworm. When the principal 
thing about a teacher is purpose, he is greater than 
all methods. When his very soul is impacted into 
his teaching, he is indeed a moral and an intel- 
lectual leader. The real influence in education is 
not the fact taught, but the inspiration which ac- 
companies its teaching. A teacher needs the 
power to will and the courage to do. If he would 



24 THE BE CITATION. 

inspire and direct, he must act. If he would free 
others, he must first free himself. If he would have 
self-reliant pupils, he must be self-reliant. He 
needs more than belief; he needs conviction; he 
needs more than conviction; he needs the courage 
of conviction. 

Get Attention. — Giving attention is acquiring 
knowledge. A pupil must give undivided atten- 
tion, if he would acquire clear and lasting impres- 
sions. Give your pupils to understand that they 
must give attention. Do not allow them to trifle 
with themselves. If you were born for a teacher, 
you can secure and retain the attention of your 
pupils during a recitation. If you cannot get the 
attention of your class and hold it, you cannot 
teach school. Interest depends upon attention, 
lyack of attention on the part of pupils is usually 
due to a lack of interest and enthusiasm on the 
part of teachers. As iron is forged into shape only 
when it is hot, so mind is drawn out only when 
it gives attention. What is called genius is little 
more than attention. 

When more parents learn what teaching means, 
license to teach will be refused those who cannot 
secure and retain the attention of their pupils. 
What information a teacher imparts may be learned 
in a dictionary or encyclopedia, but the impulse to 



THE BE CITATION. 25 

thought can be given and quickened only by one 
whose personality commands attention, inspires 
action, and develops purpose. No one can pre- 
scribe for another an infallible remedy for the cure 
of any schoolroom disorder. The oldest and most 
successful teachers can only suggest methods and 
devices for young and inexperienced teachers . 
Children are not machines, nor should teachers 
undertake to handle them as matter. 

A suggestion: Glance your eye along the class, 
pick out an inattentive pupil, call on him to recite; 
then glance your eye along the class again, pick 
out another inattentive pupil, call on him to recite; 
then glance your eye along the class again and 
again until you have called upon every member of 
the class. But many teachers cannot see or 
hear. Slowly, unconsciously, they become blind 
and deaf. Teachers need both eyes — trained eyes; 
both ears — trained ears; and an active full pulse. 
During a recitation an earnest, aggressive, sympa- 
thetic activity should characterize every expression 
and act of a teacher. Presence speaks. A strong 
personality is always present in a successful teacher. 
An aggressive presence compels attention. 

Written Recitation. — Tablet and pencil should 
be freely used above the second year or grade. 
Each topic should be thoroughly reviewed in 



26 THE BE CITATION. 

written recitation. I do not mean a formal test 
examination which measures a pupil's knowledge 
by per cents, but carefully written recitation. It 
is in a written recitation that conciseness and clear- 
ness of statement are best secured. A written 
recitation trains pupils to closer attention to the 
detail of composition than oral recitation. 

In geography, history, language and grammar, 
one carefully prepared written recitation, review- 
ing a subject or a chapter, is worth several oral 
recitations, provided the written work of the pupils 
is carefully examined in the class, and the most 
objectionable mistakes pointed out by the teacher 
and corrected by the pupils. Over-criticism by a 
teacher discourages pupils. Technical distinctions 
in regard to detail weaken the impressions made 
by the important principles and facts. It takes 
half a lifetime of schoolroom service to learn to 
distinguish between the essential and the non- 
essential matter in our text-books — to learn that 
the greater contains the less. 

"Teaching," says Tompkins, "is the process by 
which one mind, from a set purpose, produces the 
life-unfolding process in another." A teacher's 
secret lies in his power to develop, in the minds of 
his pupils, a condition similar to the one present 
in his own mind. Teaching is a mental process. 



THE BE CITATION'. 27 

Blackboard and tablet should never be used to 
relieve the mind of the strain required to develop 
and strengthen it. Mechanical recitation is the 
radical fault in our methods of instruction. Machine 
recitation cannot arouse mental activity. The 
mind possesses only what it does. The particular 
end sought in a recitation should be secured through 
the universal aim of education. Every recitation 
should be made a means of culture. Knowledge 
problems are but a small part of education. To 
limit education to a bread and butter utility is to 
miss the real aim of education. It would degrade 
man into a finely adjusted machine. Life is more 
than money-getting. The utilitarian or lower aim 
of education seeks only the business value of edu- 
cation; the spiritual or higher aim seeks the 
spiritual worthiness of the individual. 

"Know not for knowing's sake, 
But to become a star to men forever." 

The greater contributions to the wealth of the 
world have been made without regard to mere util- 
ity. It is clear that the method which is best for 
the mind of a pupil is best also for practical life. 
The aim of every teacher should be to substitute, 
in the minds of his pupils, intellectual life for sen- 
suous life. Sensation has a physical basis; thought 
is the product of the mind; sensation depends upon 



28 THE BECITATION. 

time and space; thought is independent of time 
and space. Education emancipates; it frees the 
soul of sensuous environment and carries it into 
the realm of spiritual truth. A teacher who sees 
only the business value of education has a very low 
idea of the aims and ends of life. He lives with 
the material. 

"We teach and teach 
Until like drumming pedagogues we lose 
The thought that what we teach has higher ends 
Than being taught and learned." 

The Word Again. — The little word "again" 
may be made a very helpful word in a recitation. If 
properly used, it will save much time for pupils. 
When a pupil blunders or makes a statement in 
slovenly English, the teacher should say "again" 
and the pupil should try again. Why should a 
teacher say "John, you may recite again" or 
* ' Mary , you know better than that. ' ' The persist- 
ent use of "again" will do more for a pupil than 
a scolding. In this way, every recitation may be 
made a valuable language lesson. The liberal use 
of this little word will do more toward training a 
pupil in the use of good English than high school 
rhetoric in later years. 

The mechanical phase is not the essential part of 
a recitation. Knowing is not a mechanical proc- 
ess. A teacher who is conscious only of the me- 



THE BECITATION. 29 

chanical process by which a pupil finds results is 
an unskilled laborer. (Below the formal and visi- 
ble lies the spiritual and invisible.) There is no 
subject taught in school which has not its relation 
to the soul. There is culture in the common 
branches. In education, the essential is not the 
fact taught, but the spirit in which it is taught — 
the manner and method of the teacher. ''The 
whole sky of truth bends over each recitation; and 
a teacher needs but climb Sinai to receive the di- 
vine law." 

Teacher, be yourself. 
"Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise 
From outward things, whate'er you may believe. 
There is an inmost centre in us all, 
Where truth abides in fullness; and around, 
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in. 
This perfect, dear perception . . . 

. . . And, to know, 
Rather consists in opening out a way 
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, 
Than in effecting entry for a light 
Supposed to be without." 
Unity of belief is poverty of intellect. An ounce 
of inspiration is worth a pound of direction. Think 
out an ideal recitation by studying the laws of 
mental development and the aim and end of edu- 
cation. An ideal is a personal possession and by 
an immutable law it seeks to outpicture and actu- 
alize itself. Nothing is so false and dogmatic as 



30 THE BECITATION, 

"This is the only method." Method cannot be 
fitted to the mind as clothes are fitted to the body. 
Method is personal and incommunicable. It is 
self. A new truth finds its abiding place only 
through misapprehension, friction, and personal 
sacrifice. Ignorance and prejudice occupy most 
of the space and a man with a new idea is an in- 
truder. 

A teacher should look within for the inspiration 
which inspires his pupils. He should rely more 
on his personal power than on text-books; he should 
rely more on sound methods of instruction than on 
devices. If he would train and discipline the 
minds of his pupils, his instruction must be in 
accord with the laws of mental development. 
Education is governed by eternal laws. The 
manner in which a pupil acquires knowledge 
depends on the method of the teacher. "The act 
of acquiring knowledge," says White, "is of more 
benefit to the child than the knowledge acquired." 
A child is made a man by education. School 
education lays the foundation; self-education erects 
the building. A teacher who does not feel that he 
is being self-educated is intellectually unfit to teach 
others. 

Be a student. Consciousness of incompleteness 
and imperfection is the evolutionary principle 



THE BE CITATION. 31 

which urges us to further effort. No one succeeds 
who is content to remain in a state of rest. Con- 
tentment means decay and death. Aspiration is a 
measure of moral purpose. A teacher who has 
realized his ideals is morally and intellectually 
unfit to teach school. When a teacher ceases to 
learn, he ceases to be inspiring. Only those who 
are mentally awake can awaken and interest others. 
No one is complete; no ideal is ever realized. 

Work, not for popularity, but to inspire and save 
your pupils. "Popularity is for dolls." To work 
for applause or place is to live the life of a slave. 
He who feels that he needs the vote of the majority 
does not know the history of progress or the 
infinite worth of truth and sacrifice. The best, the 
highest has always been opposed by the masses. 

The will is the architect of fate. Accomplish- 
ment sets theory aside. A 7na7i teaching is worth 
more to a class of pupils than all theories, methods, 
and devices. Awake to the fact that teaching is a 
spiritual process — that the formal recitation is only 
the visible machinery through which the spiritual 
is awakened and strengthened — that "The letter 
killeth, but the spirit maketh alive." 

Teaching children is a fearful responsibility. 
Only men and women of culture, conviction, and 
courage should be licensed to teach school. The 



32 THE BECITATION. 

present, cheap estimate of the value of child-life 
and opportunity is a reflection upon the free school 
system. So long as teaching is a stepping-stone 
to more lucrative professions, just so long will our 
children be the victims of inexperience, ignorance^ 
and local favoritism. There is something radically 
wrong in our educational system when the best 
teachers quit the schoolroom for places in business 
or other professions, and leave the training of our 
children to uneducated, untrained boys and girls. 
I believe that the present condition of the science 
of education and the art of instruction is compara- 
tively crude. Consistency is change in the direc- 
tion of better methods and a clearer knowledge of 
human nature. Progress is the watchword. Little 
that has been good in one generation has signifi- 
cance in the next generation. Use what the past 
has given you in building for the future. 

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
As the swift seasons roll! 
Leave thy low vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast. 
Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!" 



Elements of Pedagogics 



By J. N. PATRICK:, A. Nl., 

Author of "Pedag-ocrical Pebbles, ' "Higher Eng;lish," "Lessons in 
Grammar," and "The Recitation." 



From Hon. S. M. Ingi^is, State Supt. of Pub. Inst., Ii,i,. 
"I have read 'Elements of Pedagogics' with care, pleasure and 
profit. Its completeness is attractive. B}^ the use of copious foot 
notes and a simple epigrammatic style of saying things, 5'ou have 
succeeded admirably in compressing into this small volume the 
essence of many books on teaching. 

"You have given students and teachers a plain concise statement 
of the fundamental principles of educational psychology and correct 
methods of instruction. The work is aggressive in tone, independent 
in statement, and ideal in aim. No teacher, 3-oung or old, can sleep 
while reading it. It is admirably adapted to the work usually done 
in the annual county institute. I cheerfully commend the work to 
the teachers of Illinois." 

From Hon. Newton Bateman, LIv.D., Knox Coll., III. 
•'I have carefully read and reread J. N. Patrick's 'Elements of 
Pedagogics.' It is a clear, concise and strong statement of many 
things which every 3'oung teacher should know and feel and be and 
do — MUST know and' feel and be and do — if he would be truly worthy 
of that honored place to which he aspires in our noble profession. 
My young brethren, get the book, read it, read it all; study it, master 
its truths, imbibe its spirit, actualize its precepts and suggestions in 
5^our work. It will illumine and transfigure that work. It will 
help, strengthen, uplift and inspire you." 

From Hon. John R. Kirk, State Supt. Pub. Schools, Mo. 
"Your 'Elements of Pedagogics' is a rich and fruitful volume — 
instructive, suggestive, and refreshing. I have read it twice through 
and marked many passages with my blue pencil. I like the book 
because I can understand it. You waste no words on platitudes. You 
speak the experiences of a live and vigorous man not afraid to get 
down into the educational workshop and raise the dust by doing 
something. You appeal to my experience in a common sense way 
and make me think. I wish every teacher in Missouri could rea^ 
your book, and read it again." 

From Supt. J. M. Greenwood, Kansas City, Mo. 
" 'Elements of Pedagogics' is one of the most pointed and in- 
spiring books I ever read. There is not a padded sentence in it. 
Every one interested in education should read it. I wish you had 
decided to treat other topics, and expanded the volume into one 
double its size. No progressive teacher can read the book without 
wanting 'more.' " 



From Supt. W. S. Perrv, Axx Arbor, Mich. 
"I find the book 'Elements of Pedagogics' a most excellent 
conipeud of the fundamental facts, doctrines, and principles of teach- 
ing as held by the foremost educators of the present time. The st^de 
is engaging, because it is stimulating. It goes directly to the heart 
of a topic, lays bare the shams and blunders of teaching, while it 
sets in very clear light the true doctrine of education and its appli- 
cations. I should sa}' from the clearness of its thought and direct- 
ness of its style that it would be specially helpful to young teachers." 

From Hox. W. W. Pexdergast, State Supt. of Public Ix- "1 
STRUCTiox, St. PauIv, Mixx. J 

" 'Elements of Pedagogics,' by J. N. Patrick, will, in my 
opinion, prove a very valuable work for all teachers who are inter- 
ested enough in their work to make a study of the principles upon 
which their profession is founded. I know of no place where so 
much of food for thought can be obtained in so little space. 

"Xo one having the charge of a school can read the work care- 
fully a:id thoughtfully without getting light upon the nature of the 
work to be done and the normal methods of doing it." 

From R. B. Denfei^d-, Supt. of Public Schools, Duluth, Minn. 

"I have been for some time, as you doubtless know, consider- 
ing your little book on 'Elements of Pedagogics,' and I now say 

that I am delighted with it. The different subjects are presented in 
a clear, forcible manner, and it contains as much meat on the sub- 
ject as any book that I have ever read. I do not know that there is 
any change that I would make were I to prepare a book for my own 
teachers. Send me one hundred and fifty copies." 

From Supt. Calvix Moon, South Bexd, Ixd. 

"I regard 'Elements of Pedagogics' as one of the best books 

on the subject of pedagogy 5'et published. It is certainly well 

adapted to the needs of young teachers, and the older members of 

the profession will find valuable lessons within its covers for them." 

State Reading Circle Adoptions: Colorado, 1S95; Iowa, 1898; 
Wisconsin, 1896. 

"ELEHENTS OF PEDAGOGICS" was written for those 
w^lio would be lost in the verbiage of many other books 
on the same subject. It ignores details and emphasizes 
the important points of classroom psj^cholog}^ — those on 
which successful methods are based. 

The book is beautifully printed in clear, large type, 
on good paper, and bound in cloth. 12mo. , 224 pages. 
Single copy for examination, b}" mail, eightj^-five cents. 

St. I.OUIS, Mo. BECKTOLD & CO. 



*nULTUn IN PARVO" 



HIGHE R EN GLISH 

By J. N. Patrick, A. Nl., 

Author of " Elements of Pedag-ogics," " Pedagogical Pebbles," 
"Lessons in Grammar," " The Recitation." 



From Hon. S. M. Ingi^is, Statk vSupt. Pub. Inst., I1.1.S. 
" 'Higher English' is a gem. You should have prepared it be- 
fore, that high school pupils and those in the highest grammar 
grade might have been saved from the slavery required in the use- 
less study of technical grammar." 

From Prkst. H. W. Everest, Sou. IlIv. Normai, University. 

"Having examined your vt^ork entitled 'Higher English' I am 
pleased to approve the same as thorough and practical. The stu- 
dent will not occupy most of his time in 'naming his tools.' He 
cannot perform all the work prescribed without gaining facility 
in the right use of the English language. I deem it well fitted to 
follow grammar in our high schools." 

From Hon. John R. Kirk, State Supt. Pub. Inst., Mo. 

"I have just completed an inspection of your new book, 'Higher 
English.' This is my estimate of it: 

"All that need be known of grammar fully and clearly stated in 
108 pages; the essentials of rhetoric in less than 80. 

"No unnatural puzzles to parse. No distorted specimens in the 
lists for analysis. All illustrations and examples are chosen from 
pure straightforward English. 

"Definitions and principles, brief, simple and complete. A com- 
pact volume bearing on every page the marks of one who never uses 
auguage 'to conceal thought,' even in writing a book." 

From Prest. W. D. Dobson, Normai^ Schooi., Kirksville, Mo. 

" 'Higher English' has made its appearance none too soon, for 
it fills a place in our high schools and upper grammar schools 
that has never yet been filled by any other text of which I have 
au}^ knowledge. Pupils in these schools have been wading and 
struggling through texts too voluminous to be of much practical 
benefit in the use of clear, concise, and pure English; this book, 
prepared so thoughtfully and carefully b}^ this master teacher, 
recommends itself to every teacher as a benefactor, and should be 
in every grammar school and smaller high school in our country." 

From Hon. W. W. Pendergast, State Supt. Pub. Inst., Minn. 

"The little work e'ntitled 'Higher English' is a valuable addition 
to the numerous books upon language, grammar and rhetoric 
already before the public. It gives plenty of food for thought, but 
leaves most of the thinking for the student to do for himself. It 
is well planned, systematic and compact. Interest is awakened, 
knowledge gained and strength developed at every step." 



From Prof. W. H. Masters, Prixcipai, High School, 1 
MuNCiE, Ind. j 

"I have examined 'Higher English' critically and say: There is 
nothing superfluous given in the work and nothing essential omitted. 
We are pleased with the concise, clean-cut method of expressing 
the facts of grammar and composition; and we believe the plan sug- 
gested for the class work in the subjects to be the correct one. Send 
two hundred copies." 

From Superintendent Wai^ter S. Perry, Ann Arbor, 1 
Michigan. J 

" 'Higher English' is a genuine mulhim in parvo. I cannot 
see but that it contains all that is needed in the high school, ex- 
cept, perhaps, the theoretical study of rhetoric. Many of our 
books in lower English are so voluminous as to be useless. We 
have b- en off on a tangent in our schools for some time. It is high 
time for us, then, to get back to the good old doctrine that a pupil, 
if he would grow strong, must do his own thinking. 

"The second half of the book, from I^esson XXII., is an excel- 
lent compendium and presentation of practical rhetoric, in a form 
suitable for the lower grades of our high schools. If our high 
school students would master this book, and perform all the work 
indicated and do nothing more in English, I am inclined to think 
they would be better equipped in the power to use English than 
the average high school graduate is now. I predict that the book 
will have a wide use." 



"Higher English" was prepared for those pupils who 
can give bht little time to the study of literature and criti- 
cism — for those pupils who need a constructive review of 
the important principles of English grammar and a brief, 
illustrated treatment of the essential principles of rhetoric. 
There is a definiteness in the method of the book found 
in no other work on school English. The exacting con- 
structive exercises, the character of the selected sentences 
for criticism and correction, the numerous explanatory 
notes distinguish this book from all other works on the 
same subject. 

The book is beautifully printed in clear type, on good 
paper and tastefully bound in cloth. 12mo. 192 pages. 
Single copy for examination, by mail, sixty- five cents. 
BECKTOLD & CO., 

ST. LOUIS, NIO- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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